Officials inaugurated a new $6.9 million radar facility at Seymour Johnson AFB, S.C, for air traffic controllers to monitor and control flights in 5,000-square miles of airspace, base officials confirmed. The 12,000-square foot Radar Approach Control facility is the first part of a three-stage construction project to house the RAPCON, airfield operations, and transient alert in a new complex, according to a Jan. 13 release. The base has undertaken several major infrastructure projects including a major runway renovation completed last September, and construction of a new control tower slated to begin next year, base spokesman SSgt. Charles Broadway told the Daily Report. Seymour Johnson’s RAPCON currently handles more than 80,000 flights a year, according to the release, Jan. 14.
After a long period in which munitions were almost an afterthought and sacrificed to pay for other priorities, the Air Force needs to focus on them in order to have the right “package” of capabilities for future conflicts, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said June 7.